A January Sunrise Photo

Above is a link to my Flickr page via a photo I uploaded today. It’s from January 17th, one of those mild mornings after a stormy previous day, the sunrise.

This very morning I didn’t take any photos, but it was also a “morning after” and as the sun was coming up the clouds were rolling out and the sunshine broke through to clear the entire sky to be brilliantly blue and bright. The ground is still wet, last I checked, and the muddiest spots are just as muddy as ever, with at least having all the puddles soaked into the earth by this morning.

My allergies are back in near full force too. They got me sniffly stuffy during the stormy days with a tad bit of sore achy throat on the left side, and then with the storm cleared out full force itchy eyes and nose, drippy nose, watery sticky eyes today. Otherwise, it’s nice out, just watch your step for gooey ground and sniffle itch thyself as need be … at least I am thankful that presently I haven’t begun sneezing, yet, that is. I hope not to. Traditionally I am not a “sneezer” much, but then I didn’t used to be an eyes get itchy and sticky sufferer either, not until a couple of Springs ago. I have to admit that before all that we lived in GA under drought conditions and it’s just been things “getting back to normal” I bet, so normal rainy times means some things are probably actively blooming during different seasons when they might not have under drought conditions.

In any case we have more greenery out in the yard this winter than any past winters, with this one so mild … we don’t have “lawns” just whatever grows as “grass” grows, Dh mows it during Spring/Summer/Autumn. The “grass” really needs mowed in some places, which is peculiar to this mild season we are having.

The 15-day outlook continues to show mild conditions, with nighttime lows the next few nights being cold, but daytime highs being “above normal”. We are supposed to have sunshine the next few days too, which is lovely as it’s been so overcast the last few days solidly. Looking out the windows one sees pretty blue, winter in that it’s the sun that makes the seasonal light and sky looks but the temperatures are just so very Spring again, and it’s fooling something plantwise, making grasses grow, and something allergy-wise do more, trees no doubt, though accuweather’s pollen map shows our part of the South as “having no pollen”, hmph, maybe so, but there is something causing allergies in more than just me out there. Other states show pretty hefty tree pollen counts. It supposedly doesn’t stretch up to us, but I know it was showing such things the other week when I was struggling heavily.

The other thing is too, I had to chase my hennie Hawklady today when I went to move her little setup she upset the delicate balance and sprinted to the gate by the front of the backyard. The dog was loose and I was not too happy to be running around after a hen in such a situation. Allergies and whatnot made me breathe very uncomfortably and from what it seems to me it would be that the running with my allergies brought me pretty close to what would be an asthmatic mild attack, I had to chase that birdy all the way up and down the length of the yard on that side, which is at least, if not more, a 1/4 of an acre, and I ran it more than once. I had to keep yelling at the dog to make sure he didn’t get Hawklady and finally I was able to get her when she stopped in the corner at the back where it was clear by the fence but tall woody dead weeds surrounded the area. It stalled her and I was able to scoop her up and she didn’t fight one bit. I never have had such a chase with that one, mostly the hens that HAVE gotten out are the white Leghorns and they take half an hour or more to round up, with helpers involved. They are flighty frighties. The others we have, Wyandottes and Australorps are gentle and easy to get “if” they get out, which is unusual. I had to get one of the W’s in last week when storm knocked the side of their pen apart partially and only one of them got out. The dog was out then too, and he kept her in check, staying right at the end of the pen, she stayed right by the pen and just ran back and forth in a small area until I got there. The dog alerted me that time by barking a warning every few seconds. He’s not a trained guard of birdies but he acted one in that instance. Today’s event he was probably doing a similar thing, except for it happened when I was out there, because of my non-quick reaction, and the hennie started to sprint, so I wasn’t sure if the dog wouldn’t try to grab her, and that I couldn’t risk as she’s my green egg layer.

I had to lay down after all that. Phew. So it’s nice out, but too much for activity, with this durnded winter allergy thing continuing on after a brief respite of sorts.